On Tuesday, the GOP-led House narrowly passed another stopgap bill to prevent a partial government shutdown by the end of this week, marking a victory for President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).
The 99-page continuing resolution, which provides funds to various federal agencies and programs through September 30, prevailed in a 217-213 vote. All but one Republican and a single Democrat — Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) — supported the measure. The rest of the Democrats and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) opposed the bill.
“For years, House Democrats have railed against government shutdowns, but they suddenly changed their tune when President Trump returned to office,” Johnson said on X. “Their falsehoods and misinformation campaigns are a desperate attempt to distract from their own failures. Despite these tactics, President Trump and Congressional Republicans will stop at nothing to deliver on the mandate given by the American people.”
Now the continuing resolution heads to the Republican-controlled Senate, where Democrats could filibuster the measure. Blocking it as such could lead to a partial shutdown in which non-essential federal employees will be furloughed beginning on March 15.
It was not clear heading into the afternoon whether the continuing resolution would have enough votes to prevail in the House, in which the Republicans have a slim 218-214 majority. There were a handful of GOP holdouts, but they came around in the final hours before the vote. As part of the effort to rally support for the measure, Vice President JD Vance paid a visit to Capitol Hill to deliver a closing pitch to House Republicans and Trump worked the phones.
Democrat leaders warned the continuing resolution would cut health care, nutritional assistance, and veterans benefits while doing nothing to “protect” Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. However, during a press conference on Tuesday, Johnson insisted the measure does not threaten those programs.
“You can all read the bills’ 99 pages. This clean CR contains no poison pill riders. No policy riders there at all. No cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security. Zero. No cuts to veterans benefit benefits. Zero. In fact, as was noted, we plus up the accounts for veterans,” the speaker said.
Trump endorsed the spending patch, arguing that it paves the way for the budget reconciliation process to continue after the House passed a resolution that outlines fiscal priorities for future spending legislation in line with the president’s domestic agenda priorities in areas such as national defense, border security, and tax cuts.
“Conservatives will love this Bill, because it sets us up to cut Taxes and Spending in Reconciliation, all while effectively FREEZING Spending this year, and allowing us to continue our work to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,” Trump said in a recent post on Truth Social. “VERY IMPORTANT — Let’s get this Bill done!”
The conservative House Freedom Caucus announced support for the continuing resolution, saying it would “reduce and then freeze spending” for the next six months, giving the Trump administration and its Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) time to “find and eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse.”
Massie was the sole Republican who refused to budge, even when Trump called him a “GRANDSTANDER.” The president went so far as to urge Republicans to primary Massie and likened the Kentucky Republican to former Rep. Liz Cheney, who lost her Wyoming at-large district to Rep. Harriet Hagemen in 2022.
“I’m not voting for the Continuing Resolution budget (cut-copy-paste omnibus),” Massie said on X. “Why would I vote to continue the waste fraud and abuse DOGE has found? We were told the CR in December would get us to March when we would fight. Here we are in March, punting again! WTFO.”
Joining “The Ben Shapiro Show” for an interview Monday, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) signaled that lawmakers will strive to follow the normal appropriations process in the next cycle, but in the meantime, the continuing resolution will carry government funding through the end of the current fiscal year. He also stressed tools such as impoundment and rescission could potentially be used to rein in spending.
“I’m always weary, as you are and should be — we both should be — of the excuses in this town,” Roy said. “There’s always an excuse not to deliver. What I would push back on people right now is — we’re delivering. A spending freeze in an inflationary environment is a huge win, trust me.”
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